Jeffrey Kahane
piano
Primary Academic Program: Bard Conservatory of Music: Piano
Academic Program Affiliation(s): Bard Conservatory of Music
Biography:
Equally at home at the keyboard or on the podium, Jeffrey Kahane has established an international reputation as a truly versatile artist, recognized by audiences around the world for his mastery of a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to Gershwin, Golijov and John Adams.
Since making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1983, Mr. Kahane has given recitals in many of the nation’s major music centers including New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta. He appears as soloist with major orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony and is also a popular figure at all of the major US summer festivals. Kahane is equally well-known for his collaborations with artists and chamber ensembles such as Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Joshua Bell, Thomas Quasthoff and the Emerson and Takacs Quartets.
Jeffrey Kahane made his conducting debut at the Oregon Bach Festival in 1988. Since then, he has guest conducted many of the major US orchestras such as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Dallas and New World symphonies among others. Currently in his 17th season as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Kahane concluded his tenure as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony in June 2010 and for ten seasons was Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony, where he is now Conductor Laureate. He has received much recognition for his innovative programming and commitment to education and community involvement with all three orchestras and received ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming for his work in both Los Angeles and Denver.
In addition to his programs and projects with LACO, recent and upcoming engagements include appearances at the Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Blossom and Oregon Bach festivals; recitals in Salt Lake City, Scottsdale and at the Laguna Beach Festival; concerto performances with the Toronto, Indianapolis, Houston, Oregon and Colorado symphonies and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; play/conducts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco, National, Detroit, Vancouver, Seattle and New Jersey symphonies; and conducting the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in Boston and the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center.
During the 13/14 season, Mr. Kahane and his newly formed trio with violinist Joseph Swensen and cellist Carter Brey appear at the Ravinia, Chamber Music Northwest, Music@Menlo and La Jolla Music Society Summerfest festivals and at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, CA.
Mr. Kahane’s recent and upcoming European engagements include play/conduct programs with the Camerata Salzburg, Hamburg Symphony and the Real Philharmonic de Galicia in Spain as well as appearances at the Meck-Pomm Chamber Music Festival in Germany.
Jeffrey Kahane’s recordings include works of Gershwin and Bernstein with Yo-Yo Ma for SONY, Paul Schoenfield’s Four Parables with the New World Symphony for Decca/Argo, the Strauss Burleske on Telarc with the Cincinnati Symphony and the complete Brandenburg Concerti (on harpsichord) with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra under Helmuth Rilling on the Haenssler label. He has also recorded the complete works for violin and piano by Schubert with Joseph Swensen for RCA, Bach’s Sinfonias and Partita No. 4 in D Major for Nonesuch and Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety for Virgin Records, which was nominated by Gramophone magazine for their “Record of the Year” award.
A native of Los Angeles and a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mr. Kahane's early piano studies were with Howard Weisel and Jakob Gimpel. First Prize winner at the 1983 Rubinstein Competition and a finalist at the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition, he was also the recipient of a 1983 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the first Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award in 1987. An avid linguist who reads widely in a number of ancient and modern languages, Mr. Kahane received a Master’s Degree in Classics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2011.
Jeffrey Kahane resides in Santa Rosa with his wife, Martha, a clinical psychologist in private practice. They have two children - Gabriel, a composer, pianist and singer/songwriter and Annie, a dancer and poet.
Mr. Kahane joined the faculty of the Bard Conservatory in fall of 2012.